The French expression “cousu de fil blanc” translates literally to “sewn or stitched in white thread”. English meanings include:
- obvious
- easy to see through
- perfectly predictable
The idea is that if a dark-colored garment is sewn with a white piece of thread, the thread sticks out very clearly to the eye. Expressio.fr suggests the following definitions in French: 1) Very crude and obvious (with regards to a trial) and 2) Extremely predictable (with regards to a story).
example sentence:
- Tout le monde sait que le procès de O.J. a été cousu de fil blanc. Il a fini par passer la reste de sa vie en prison. Everybody know the obvious outcome of O.J.’s trial. He ended up spending the rest of his life in prison.
